Rockford was finalist in Boeing factory search

Wednesday

Jan 8, 2014 at 3:14 PMJan 8, 2014 at 3:28 PM

By Chuck SweenyRockford Register Star,

The Rockford area, specifically a site adjacent to Chicago Rockford International Airport, was a finalist in the competition for a new Boeing airplane factory, a state of Illinois official said Wednesday.

"The Rockford area was an absolute finalist for Boeing's nationwide search," said Dave Roeder of the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity about the aircraft company's hunt for a site to build the 777X passenger jet. The factory is expected to create 8,000 jobs. On Friday night, Boeing announced that it had called off the competition because of a favorable union vote in the Seattle area, meaning 777X production will probably take place there.

Union members have challenged that vote, however, and the issue is not settled, Roeder said, so there's still hope for Rockford.

"It was kind of amazing the reception we got from Boeing," Roeder said. The company did not invite a proposal from Illinois, but "we invited ourselves in. Gov. Pat Quinn directed that this effort be put together, and the first page of our formal package is a letter to the chairman of Boeing from the governor," Roeder said.

"Out of 54 sites Boeing considered, they narrowed it down to five, and Rockford was one of those sites. This was an effort that took place over a week in December. It speaks very well for the Rockford region how seriously Boeing took the Illinois proposal," Roeder said.

Boeing wanted more than 300 acres of land and access to a runway of at least 9,000 feet, as well as rail access and a trained workforce. Rockford "exceeded those requirements," Roeder said. RFD has a 10,000-foot runway.

Amy Ott, airport deputy director, said the airport was easily able to say yes to everything Boeing needed.

"We originally put in proposal a few weeks back, and were very quickly notified we were a finalist and that Boeing would be coming out for a site visit," Ott said.

"They wanted it adjacent to a rail line, they wanted 300 acres and 9,000 feet and adequate infrastructure. We had a Boeing team that came in a week ago Monday," Ott said. The Boeing officials met with state and local economic development representatives. Roeder confirmed that officials of Woodward Inc., and UTC Aerospace met with the Boeing team. Airport leaders also told Boeing about the pending ramp-up of the Rock Valley College aviation program at the airport.

"Until Friday night we were prepared for Boeing to come back this Monday. Boeing was very impressed," Ott said. "We talked to them about how we could tailor the site to their needs, showed them what we'd done for the UPS project to show them that with RFD, nothing is impossible; that we are capable of getting big projects done."